


Furtive

by rudbeckia



Series: Ten plus one [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-22 02:01:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11370231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: I decided there was a kiss missing from the list of ten prompts. So here it is: the furtive kiss, the one nobody is supposed to see. Maybe you meet one another unexpectedly and there’s no one around, no one looking, and somehow you just know you’re going to kiss and it gives you a little thrill that lasts for a while after you’ve parted again.





	Furtive

Mitaka looked sideways along the sofa at Hux with considerable alarm at Hux’s revelation of his violent fantasy. “But I thought you hated him!”  
Hux nodded and took another mouthful of his meal, scraping the plastoid spoon against the molded, oven-safe tray to get at the last nutritious specks in the corner. He swallowed and responded to Mitaka’s concerned stare with a shrug.  
“Perhaps I do.” He flashed a grin. “Perhaps it’s that dominance thing you mentioned. I want to make him mine. Own him.”  
Mitaka forced a laugh and shook his head. “If I shrink away to nothing next time we make love it’s because I’m imagining your fantasy. Have you seen the size of his… um, hookup profile picture?”  
Hux put on a mock-stern look. “There’s no need to feel inadequate, lieutenant. I told you size isn’t everything.”  
“Ha! It’s not that.” Mitaka winced. “He’s _huge!_ My eyes water just thinking about it. I don’t want that monstrosity in either orifice!”  
“Oh? Good.” Hux turned his attention to the energy pudding section of his tray, prodding the gelatinous substance with the same spoon he’d used to eat his protein and carbohydrate main course. “I want to fuck the arrogant smirk off Kylo Ren’s face but he’s not getting you. I consider both your orifices mine and I’m not sharing. Although,” Hux admitted as he abandoned dessert, “I’d like to find out if he can spout about the mysterious ways of the force while you’re offloading down his throat.”

Mitaka scooped up a spoonful of energy pudding and let it splat back onto the tray. “Huh. I seem to have lost my appetite, sir.” He stacked their trays and went to Hux’s kitchen to tidy up and make tea. Hux followed.  
“Has my little fantasy upset you?”  
“No,” Mitaka said, busy watching boiling water flow from the water dispenser. “Okay, yes. A bit.”  
“Which bit? Kylo Ren’s enormous dick or the thought of me fucking him?”  
Mitaka stared at the two cups, one in each hand. “Um,” he bit his lip. “Not the dick. Not even you fucking him, sir, uh, as long as he wants it too. I suppose. But then…” Mitaka shrugged.  
“Oh? Then what’s the prob— Oh!” Hux rolled his eyes. “Doph, do you really think… It’s a _fantasy._ You know the meaning of that word?”  
“Yes, of course, sir. Sorry.” Mitaka offered Hux weak tea and a weaker smile.  
“Out with it, lieutenant. You only call me _sir_ here when you're peeved or when you think you're about to get very lucky.”  
Mitaka blew across the top of his tea and sat at the small dining table.  
“You could have an affair with him and not have to keep it secret.”

Hux sat opposite Mitaka and took his own drink, twisting the cup around to fit his hand. He kept his voice flat, matter-of-fact. “You know why we have to keep this secret.” Mitaka sat stony-faced. “If anyone knew, they could use it for blackmail or report it and you’d be—“  
”I KNOW!” Mitaka reached for a paper towel and slapped it on the table to mop up his spilled tea. “Sorry. I know the regulations, sir, and I know the risks.” He tried to suppress the irritation in his voice but some residual snappishness broke through. “I’ll sneak out when the corridor’s clear, as usual. I won’t be seen.”  
“Doph, you knew this was as much as it could be.” Hux sipped his tea, set the cup down carefully and stared at it. “We both did. What we have is a string of hook-ups. If it’s a relationship you want then I suggest you look to your own rank because sooner or later…” Hux sighed and looked across the table at Mitka. “This will have to end.”  
Mitaka pressed his jaws together and fought the heat rising up his face. Without looking at Hux again, he stood, retrieved his overnight bag from the side of the sofa and left.

 

“Oh come on, he’s with you-know-who and the other two are on duty. We’ve got all night!”  
Eljit walked backwards into his quarters, laughing. He turned only when Unamo shushed him and pointed at the figure lying face down.  
“Ah! Um, Unamo, maybe—”  
“Another time, sweetheart. Your boyfriend needs you more.”  
Unamo’s voice barely registered with Mitaka. He heard the door close and felt the mattress dip, then a hand stroked his back and rested light between his shoulder blades.  
“Want to talk about it?”  
“No.”  
“Want me to talk about it?”  
“No.”  
“Okay.”  
“It’s over.”  
“Mmhmm.”  
“He… Ugh.”  
“I see.”  
“He’s an arsehole.”  
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”  
“You’re not fucking funny.”  
“Sorry.”

Mitaka lay still, face buried in the pillow. Eljit hoisted himself over and made himself as comfortable as he could, back against the wall and knees bent over Mitaka’s thighs, and picked up the datapad by the bed for something to do while his friend moped. Half an hour passed, during which time Eljit, lips and tongue tripping over stilted sentences, memorised two regulations pertaining to the effective deployment of technical officers, and massaged Mitaka’s right calf absently with his free hand.  
“He said,” Mitaka spoke clearly, turning his face clear of the pillow, “that all we have is a string of hookups. Not a relationship, not even an affair. Hookups.”  
“Hmm,” said Eljit, wisely.  
“I thought we had something.”  
”Mmhmm.”  
“I won’t see him again except on duty.”  
Eljit squeezed Mitaka’s calf. “Good for you.”  
“Sorry. Finding me in your bunk might’ve put dampeners on your date.”  
“Oh, Unamo will understand. She has problems with her girlfriend. You know, the shiny one we’re not allowed to know about.” Eljit slapped Mitaka’s leg. “I’m more annoyed about the state of my pillow! Is that snot?”  
“Ugh yes, sorry. Take mine.” Mitaka slid Eljit’s damp pillow onto the floor, turned around and sat up. “Elli, will you do me a favour?” Eljit hummed and nodded. Mitaka sighed and tried to smile. “Tell everyone who needs to know, and tell them I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“I will. What if he comms you?”  
Eljit stared at his hand in surprise when Mitaka turned his palm up and dropped a personal comm into it.

 

Hux stared at the door in confusion. Hadn’t he been honest with Mitaka from the start? Had he given the lieutenant any reason to believe they could have anything more than a mutually convenient arrangement for physical pleasure? Perhaps inviting the man into his private quarters and encouraging him to stay longer than it took to clean up had been an error of judgment on his part. Hux sighed and scowled at his empty cup, reflecting on the fact that this was the third time Mitaka had walked out on him. He hoped it wasn’t going to be too much of a habit. Hux discarded the used cups and headed to bed for an early night. He missed Mitaka’s warm presence, but he dozed with his head full of plans.

Mitaka refused to accompany Eljit to the rec, so Eljit invited a few friends over instead. Mitaka watched Eljit push the partitions out of the way and arrange their bunks like sofas, pillows against the walls.  
“Don’t worry,” he reassured, “I told them not to mention it. Tworra’s bringing a holo and Unamo’s bringing rotwater from the ‘still her girlfriend didn’t find. Hopefully someone will bring something that isn’t synthsust. I would maim for one sliver of salted, fried yullaroot.”  
Mitaka smiled at that. “We’re all safe then. The best he ever offered me was ration trays. Synthsust, mostly, only served up more nicely.”

 

Alpha shift came round too soon. Mitaka considered asking for medical leave but was too afraid of being sent for a physical exam to entertain the thought seriously. He staggered from Eljit’s bed where he’d fallen asleep halfway through some First Order propaganda film featuring a handsome young officer who sacrificed family and fortune for glory in battle high above some forlorn planet. Eljit groaned.  
“Can’t be up-time already. Come back.”  
Mitaka shushed him then headed for the ‘fresher. The clamour of unwilling wakefulness continued with Unamo cursing and Thanisson groaning, Tworra pleading for sanisteam credits and Mitaka’s other two bunkmates, sober and recently off duty, yelling at them all to shut the fuck up and get out. Mitaka stepped back over to Eljit, leaned down to smooth his hair and murmured, _”Thank you for cheering me up last night.”_

Hux did not appear on the bridge during alpha shift and Mitaka began to relax towards his alpha-beta shift break. He found the routine of his duty soothing. There were few true surprises unless they were actively engaged in battle, and even when they were the General’s commands were succinct and easy to follow. He took his fifteen minutes alone, grabbing a cup of caf in the bridge officers’ mess and avoiding eye contact with the other crew present in case someone might ask him what was wrong, was he okay.

Meanwhile the General sat in his office and scowled at his paperwork. Not because the pile of datapads was overwhelming, but because he had finished and could not delay his bridge inspection any longer. With an irritated sigh, he got up and marched the short distance to the bridge. When he saw that a junior lieutenant stood ready at Mitaka’s usual post, Hux gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, pressing his nails into the leather of the fingertips. His inspection was short: after one cursory circuit of the observation walkway and a check that they were on the correct course, Hux headed back to his office to request busy-work. Within ten minutes he had demanded status reports from all TIE hangars and Sensor Technical Corps, budget forecasts from Engineering and Weapons Systems, and a full inventory from Medbay. He paced the room while waiting for the first documents to arrive, and commed Mitaka.

_You missed bridge crew inspection. Are you unwell?_

Hux’s datapad lit up. He scurried over and sat down, but it was only the first status report. He read it, annotated it, actioned the suggested redeployment of staff, and filed it. He fiddled with his personal comm device again. Mitaka should have replied by now.

_We should talk about your odd behaviour. Such a sign of instability must be dealt with before it becomes a barrier to your duties._

Three more TIE hangars responded with their status updates and Hux focused on each for a few minutes before checking his comm again.

_How have I upset you this time? Come tonight, tell me and let me persuade you to forgive whatever offence I unwittingly offered._

The medbay inventory was long and detailed. Hux placed orders for resupply of bacta and analgesics, but denied the usual request for a state-of-the-art bacta tank. He checked his comm without any real expectation of a reply yet, Mitaka seemed to be sulking, and almost dropped it when he saw there was an answer. But his sudden flood of relief dried as he read the message.

_…This is a friend of Doph’s. He gave me his comm so that he wouldn’t have to reply to you. He doesn’t want to see you again except when he has to. Please leave him alone to get over you and move on._

Hux accessed the ship’s main communications log. There should be a location coded with the comm’s entry in the log. He found it. The message had been sent from one of the weapons engineering bays. He located it and called up its duty list, eyes scanning for anyone who might have a connection to Mitaka. One name stood out.

Hux sent two ‘troopers to escort Lieutenant Major Eljit to his office at the end of beta shift. The young officer saluted him and the ‘troopers waited outside. Hux sat back, staring at the officer, who in turn stared at the wall behind Hux’s head. Hux leaned forward, elbows on the desk, and steepled his fingers to prevent his hands from curling into painful fists.  
“Lieutenant Major Eljit, Weapons Technician.”  
“Yessir.”  
“Can you tell me why you think you are here?”  
Eljit made a show of thinking. Creased brow, moving eyes and a head-scratch. He glanced at Hux’s face and sucked his bottom lip. “You found out about the last ‘still, sir?”  
“No, Eljit, but thank you for the information that there is one more illicit distillery. I will have Captain Phasma find it. What _other_ reason might have spawned my sudden interest in you?”  
Eljit swallowed and his face flushed, spreading dark from his neck up his cheeks, even tingeing his forehead. He swallowed again.  
“Um, my application to take the examination for promotion to full Major, sir?”  
“NO!” Hux bellowed and Eljit shrank back. Hux leaned forward. “Try. Again.”  
The lieutenant major seemed to sag. He pulled something from his pocket and deposited it on the desk in front of Hux. It was Mitaka’s personal comm.

“Sit down.” Hux scooped up the device and examined it while Eljit sank onto a hard, plastoid chair. He set the device carefully in the centre of the surface between them.  
“Lieutenant Major Eljit, I offer you a simple choice. An opportunity. You want to be promoted to Major and I can help that to happen for you, if you are prepared to help me with a small matter in return. Alternatively, you may leave this room and remain in your current rank until charges of bringing the First Order into disrepute are filed, at which time you will be called before a disciplinary hearing and, as your third offence, that will result in court martial. I cannot influence the outcome of such a procedure but I do know that Colonel Justice Angkoric is vehemently opposed to the use of alcohol by military personnel.” Hux watched Eljit carefully and tried not to smile. “Take your time.”

Eljit took two and a half minutes, an eternity during which Hux cast an inattentive eye over the budget forecasts he had ordered. Eljit did not look up.  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“In return for a favour, I will fast track your application for promotion and transfer you to _The Subjugator._ You will speak of this arrangement to no one, not even Mitaka. The day any hint of a rumour reaches my ears, you will find yourself taking pot-shots at pirates at our border in the unknown regions. Do you understand and accept these conditions?”

Eljit fought back tears of anger and frustration. In a momentary flash he imagined himself leaping over the desk and strangling Hux where he sat, stopping the smug breath from passing through his windpipe to pollute the air. He envisaged those cold, grey-green eyes with their veined whites stained with red blotches. For just a fraction of a second he wondered if it would be worth it. But the impulse passed. Instead he gripped tight to the sides of his uncomfortable chair and nodded once.  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Good. You are going to tell me what Dopheld Mitaka requires of me.”

The words took a few seconds to settle. Eljit frowned and shook his head. He looked up in confusion.  
“You want me to… to tell you how to… um… how to court Doph?”  
“‘Court’ is not the right word. I want to know how to keep Mitaka at my beck and call without him getting moody, storming off and sulking when I remind him of regulations prohibiting relationships between officers of different rank.”  
“You want me to advise you on… how to keep a boyfriend?”  
“No. Let me be clear. I want you to brief me on the minimum standard of personal attention and affection that will keep Lieutenant Mitaka content enough that he will continue our personal arrangement for the foreseeable future. He is not my _boyfriend._ That is in conflict with regulation four-eighteen—”  
“I know!” Eljit interrupted, still not quite believing the evidence of his ears. “An officer may not engage in a close personal relationship with a crewmember under their direct or indirect command.”  
Hux sighed and sat back in his chair. “So you see my problem.”

Eljit watched Hux’s face. He noticed eyebrows a little drawn to crease his forehead, eyes watching his hands fiddling with Mitaka’s comm, shadows under heavy lids, lips turned down and slightly pursed. Hux looked miserable. Eljit felt the tiniest spark of hope, enough to ignite desperate bravery in a man with little left to lose.  
“Sir, may I make a suggestion? May I speak freely?”  
Hux looked up, surprised. He nodded.  
“I am willing to do what you ask but I have a condition more, um, _as_ important as my promotion.” He paused for a deep breath then launched his demands. “Doph is probably my closest friend right now. I won’t help you to do anything that will hurt him. If you want my help, then let me earn my promotion and keep me on _The Finalizer._ I will inform you if I notice that Doph is feeling unsatisfied with your rela… sorry, _arrangement_ and advise you on any small gestures he might appreciate.”

The general was silent for a few seconds, then he leaned forward again, frowning.  
“Are you turning down a fast-track promotion?”  
“Yes, sir.” Eljit removed his cap, smoothed his hair and replaced the cap. “I would always wonder if I was really good enough. I had a tough time in the academy. I struggled every day and am proud to have got this far.”  
“Huh.” Hux watched Eljit. “What’s to stop you from blackmailing one or both of us?”  
Eljit looked away and blinked a few times before he replied. “Doph loves his commission, he’s proud to be a bridge officer on your flagship, and, sith help him, he’s in love with you. If I did anything that would result in him having to leave, he wouldn’t forgive me. I’d lose him too.”  
Hux glared at Eljit. “Are you sleeping with with Doph?”  
“No, sir. I like women.”  
“Very well.” Hux stood and offered a handshake. Eljit scrambled to stand and shook Hux’s hand. “You have one standard day to convince Doph to talk to me and I will require a report on his requirements before I see him.” Hux returned Mitaka’s comm to Eljit and handed him a second device. “Use this. Dismissed.”

Eljit returned to his post, the secure comm a heavy presence in his pocket. The routine tasks of his duty couldn’t hold his attention and his colonel loomed behind him. Expecting rebuke Eljit pulled himself to attention, but the colonel sighed and shook her head.  
“It’s unusual for an officer to be escorted away by security and then return to duty. Did you talk yourself out of trouble, Elli?”  
Eljit felt sick. He stared at the controls and status readouts in front of him, none of them making any sense. He closed his eyes for a second then turned to face his colonel. “Ma’am, it was a personal matter. I apologise for my lack of attention.”  
The colonel squeezed Eljit’s arm and spoke quietly. “I can’t have a distracted officer in charge of plasma cannon. Go talk to someone, Elli. Come back next alpha shift with your head in order or you won’t be able to talk yourself out of a punishment detail.”  
A small measure of gratefulness gave Eljit some relief. He nodded, saluted and marched off duty.

There was not much left of gamma shift by the time Eljit crawled into Mitaka’s bunk and lay there to wait for him, running over scenarios in his imagination, most of which ended with Mitaka unhappy, Hux furious, and himself floating away from _The Finalizer_ with his last breath leaking from his lungs and the moisture in his mouth boiling as he swelled and froze. He fell asleep, curled around a pillow, internally rehearsing dual-purpose words he might use simultaneously to persuade Mitaka to see Hux again and to warn him, and woke with Mitaka curled around his back. He sat up. Mitaka sat beside him and smiled.  
“I hear you escaped certain doom today. What did the security lot have on you this time?”  
“What did you hear?” Eljit spoke sharply. Mitaka’s eyes widened.  
“Nothing! Sith, Elli, it must be serious! All anyone knows is that two ‘troopers from the General’s personal squadron escorted you from your post. The clever money said you’d be on the next shuttle to somewhere nasty.” Mitaka hugged Eljit hard. “I was so glad to see you still here. Want to talk about it?”  
Eljit sighed. “No.”  
“Want me to talk about it?”  
“No.”  
“Come and get food.”  
“Okay.”

Over synthsust in the mess hall, Eljit smiled and laughed with the others about their increasingly ridiculous speculation about his lucky escape from punishment. Later, in his own bunk with Mitaka a metre away behind a flimsy partition and their bunkmates safely away on duty, lay awake listening to his friend shifting around. He called quietly, “Hey, can’t sleep?”  
“Ugh, no,” came a voice more groan than actual words.  
Eljit got up, retrieved the secure comm device from his uniform pocket and padded around the partition to sit on Mitaka’s bed. “I couldn’t tell you before. Hux gave me this when he threatened to throw me to the rathtars. He really wants to see you. I think that’s why I’m still here - if he threw me out an airlock, you’d never speak to him again.”  
Mitaka sat up, the soft lights in the wall panels glowing on his frown as he regarded the device. His eyebrows shot up and he almost dropped it. “Elli, this is a secured comm! It bypasses… I can send whatever I want on this!”  
“Mmhmm.” Eljit nodded and smiled. “You can send a message to tell him I gave it to you safely. Look,” Eljit took Mitaka’s hand. “I personally think you should dump him but he seems to make you happy so I’ll settle for telling you to be careful. He’s ruthless and dangerous.”  
Mitaka almost glowed without the help of the control panel indicator lights. His grin glinted and he laughed. “Sith! I know!” He fiddled with the device for another few seconds then linked it with his datapad. When he looked up it was with an open, happy smile. “What should I send?”  
Eljit forced himself to smile back. “You know best. Goodnight, Doph.”

Back in his own bunk, Eljit sent one message from Mitaka’s old comm.  
_Had to improvise. Device delivered. Recommend one spontaneous gesture within next standard day._

The reply came almost immediately.  
_…understood_

Hux held his comm as if the few seconds it would take him to reach it on his desk might be too long. It took fifteen frustrating minutes of false alarms before Mitaka’s message arrived.

_Thank you for the secure comm. I am both surprised and delighted that you think enough of me to lend me a device linked with your own. No more carefully worded requests for company! With this I could tell you how I feel and no one would know but you and me. I won’t. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I confess it hurts when you say we don’t have a relationship, it’s all just hookups, although I know it has to be true and I accept it when I think about it. We serve the First Order, not each other, and you don’t love me._

Hux’s head spun as he read. The device buzzed again and he breathed in a little more on top of the breath he wasn’t aware he’d trapped.

_But would it kill you to let me pretend sometimes?_

Hux closed his eyes, breathed out and smiled. He sent another message, but not to Doph.  
_Agreed. What do you recommend?_

 

Mitaka was a man of routine. Hux waited until exactly eight minutes after the end of gamma shift when Mitaka usually exited the bridge officers’ mess with a synthsust pack or two somewhere in his tunic and headed for his quarters. He nodded once at Lieutenant Major Eljit, whose head peered around the door for a few seconds, and waited a minute more. Mitaka appeared, scowled over his shoulder and almost walked into Hux.

Hux made a show of looking around at the corridor he knew to be deserted. He locked eyes with Mitaka and flashed a smile. He turned his head toward the mess hall entrance and spoke sharply.  
“Lieutenant, you are not permitted to remove food pouches from the mess. See me in my office in exactly one standard hour.”  
Mitaka stared, slack jawed and lost for words. He recovered after a few seconds.  
“Uuh? Yes, sir!”  
Hux leaned forward as Mitaka’s hand came up to stroke his cheek. They kissed and quickly separated, Hux almost laughing at how easy this was, and Mitaka blushing and furtively looking around in case anyone might have seen. Hux walked away, turned and raised his voice again. “One hour, Lieutenant!”  
“Yessir! Sorry, sir!”

Mitaka reached his bunk and stashed his stolen synthsust for later, still warm-faced and smiling from the welcome but unexpected encounter. Eljit arrived a few minutes later with a laugh and teasing comments but Mitaka was too happy to care. General Hux reached his office congratulating himself on the success of his act and wondering what was this odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. He thought of Mitaka, of how the Lieutenant would arrive soon, and smiled. Perhaps it wouldn’t kill him to pretend either.


End file.
